Monday, July 20, 2015

July 2015 Meeting

Our meeting was held on July 15 at the US Bank building in Ontario, California. Our President and other members were not in attendance. Poor babies, they were stuck in Phoenix, Arizona at the Needle Arts Mystery Retreat. Sorry Helen, Alice and Pam, we feel for you.

After a brief business meeting, Laurie McClellan from El Segundo Chapter presented part two of her emery bag project.

So why have an emery bag? You know that cute little strawberry often attached to a tomato pin cushion? That is supposed to be filled with a fine grit emery sand. Emery comes in black or white (there is no difference in quality). The purpose is to sharpen and polish your needles. You simply poke the needle into the emery several times. Laurie emphasized several points about good emery bags: 1. It should be packed in a tightly woven fabric then encased in another fabric. You don't want sand leaking everywhere, and if any does make it through the tight fabric, it should be caught by the second layer; 2. Don't use any synthetic fabrics in your bag construction. They will dull your needles, which takes away the benefit of using the bag in the first place; 3. Don't use the emery bag as a pin cushion. Emery has a small amount of moisture in it because it's sand. Your needles will rust left in emery; and 4. Only use your emery bag for sharp needles. Tapestry needles have a blunt tip and won't go through the bag fabric without making a hole. Since Laurie is the curious type that does unspeakable things like cut open little fabric strawberries to see what's really inside, she told us that a lot of those little strawberries are actually filled with wood shavings. They make the strawberry look cute, but they don't do much for your needles.

Our May meeting was covering a button with beads. Laurie's kits included a button she had covered for us in Ultra Suede with an initial button already glued in place, lots of different seed beads, some accent beads, needles, beading thread and a beading mat.

Laurie again came with everything all organized and ready so that the project could likely be completed during the meeting. She had made little yo yos of tightly woven muslin, filled them with white emery sand, and sewed the tops firmly shut. She had all-wool felt in different colors, charms, trims, and colored beading thread. We had to cut the right-sized felt circle, make a yo yo, tuck the emery-filled yo yo inside it, and then sew on the button. We then trimmed it out with something pretty and finished it off with a charm.


The bag is about 1 1/2 inch across. It's an attractive and useful addition to our stitching tools.






Thank you Laurie for such a fun and easy project. Our chapter always enjoys your programs. The mermaid design is a free chart at http://www.xstitchhappy.net/2014/05/mermaid-scissor-fob.html.
Don't forget to check out our stitch-in page. Our August meeting will be another session with Pat on the Hapsburg Lace Sampler AND our annual ice cream social. We meet at the US Bank building, 33 N Euclid Ave, Ontario, California. Social time is 6:30, the meeting starts at 7:00. Keep stitching!

Monday, July 13, 2015

June Meeting and some Stitch-In Photos


Our meeting on June 17 was pretty much the usual. First, people started drifting in about 6:30, found a comfortable seat (isn't it funny how we tend to prefer the same seat?), grabbed a snack from our new snack table, and started to talk. Then we started the business portion at about 7:00 and got the boring part our of the way ASAP. Then we got to our program.

Pat C. taught our new project, Hapsburg Lace Sampler by Tanja Berlin. She talked a bit about the background of Hapsburg Lace, about which frankly not a lot is known. She did point out that about 25 years ago, there was some interest by a local designer. Pat said there were knots used, oh so many knots. Here is a pic of one of the old design leaflets.
Click on any photo to enlarge




Our Education Director, Yvonne B., stitched up the sampler using overdyed pearl cotton, solid pearl cotton, and metallic. We thought the effect was lovely. 









 It's hard to tell in the photos, but she stitched it on iridescent canvas. 
I really like the way the overdyed pearl created additional interest in the larger areas.
****************************************************************************
Dark Solid on Light Background

Light Solid on Dark Background









Overdyed and Solid Threads on Light Iridescent Background










The same section in three different thread/canvas combinations.







*****************************************************************************

Here are a few pictures from our Stitch-In on June 24. We have quite a range of techniques.
The start of Hapsburg Lace

Hapsburg Lace on Blue Canvas


Embroidery by one of our quilters
Redwork
A canvas piece from ANG


Stamped work on a tea towel
The beginnings of a sweet bag

Another stitcher working on that ANG piece

Counted cross stitch

Cross stitch by Ursula Michaels - finished and framed!

Cross stitch Flower Power by Crossed Wing Collections
Another start of the Hapsburg Lace




Counted cross stitch
Needlepoint piece of a Charleston house, a souvenir from a trip
 ******************************************************************************
  Last, in May we started an emery bag project by Laurie McClellan. It is a beaded Ultrasuede-covered button surrounded by beads to top an emery bag. Those of us not named Darlene will be finishing up our emery bag at the July meeting.
Darlene V. always adds a little extra to make it unique
Darlene's finished emery bag next to Denise M.'s started button
Laurie planned it to go along with our mermaid project that was our January birthday gift to our members. We paired on online freebie with linen, threads, a jewel and teeny pearls.  The design is from from the blog Cross Stitch Happy. We finished it as a pincushion with the trim stitchers' choice.
 
 I wish I had a picture of the one stitched by Kendra - she sprayed her linen with blue floral paint first and it looked terrific.

Our next meeting is July 15, with optional social time (and a snack) starting at 6:30 and the meeting itself beginning at 7:00. We meet at the Community Room at the back of the US Bank, 333 N Euclid Ave, Ontario, CA, or as the locals call it Euclid and "D" Street.